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The impact in management processes is always based on human consciousness. There are direct and indirect methods of influencing consciousness, rational and irrational. The latter, irrational, are built on the suppression of the rational principle.
When analyzing the general processes of functioning and development of socio-economic systems, the traditional direct method of influencing consciousness, based on the conviction of people, appealing to their mind using rational arguments, logic, is distinguished from methods that suppress the rational principle. Firstly, such methods include the method of the big lie, successfully applied and substantiated by many public figures and used in the management of the organization. Secondly, a method based on the limited perception of a person in the process of convincing him of something, the method of "chattering". If a person does not have time to process the incoming information, then he perceives its excess as noise, and then he cannot make an adequate assessment. Thirdly, it is the use of a person's sense of belonging to a particular social group. Fourth, a method based on dismembering a phenomenon, isolating true but isolated facts and identifying them with the phenomenon itself, or creating a false information structure based on true facts.
All this allows us to suggest a significant difference in the methods of influencing the rational and irrational aspects of human actions, especially when implementing hidden methods of influence, which gives rise to a hypothesis about the proximity, but not the identity of manipulation and latent control. The difference between manipulation and latent control lies in the difference in the implementation of hidden influences on the rational and irrational components of human nature. At the same time, the irrational component is based on the subordination of human actions to needs, the so-called riot of passions, and the rational component is based on the priority of the logic and expediency of actions.
Reflection ensures the rationality of human behavior. With rational and purposeful actions, a person acts in accordance with his needs, but in this case they are under the control of consciousness, are limited by volitional efforts and do not subordinate a person to their "arbitrariness".
In the socio-economic system, the requirements (norms) for the actions of the control object are formalized in the form of managerial decisions, and changes in these requirements can also occur during self-government. Therefore, the phenomenon of latent control manifests itself only in socio-economic systems in the presence of a subject of control, an object of control, and a subject of latent control.
? Polemical judgment
If the manager of the organization carries out fraud, using his official position, then, managing the employees of the organization, he appropriates its property. We can say that the manager as an employee of the organization, which is part of its structure, belongs to the system of the organization, and, therefore, he carries out latent management of the employees of the organization in the internal environment of the organization, and his latent activity is fully included in the space of the organization.
! reciprocal judgment
This is a naturalistic view. From the activity point of view, in this situation the manager is engaged in two activities. The direct execution of his official duties takes place in the space of the organization’s activity, and latent activity is not included in the structure of the organization’s activity, and only by attaching himself to this activity, penetrating into its internal structure, he realizes his goals of deforming the activity of the organization’s employees in order to steal its property.
Any activity always consists of an objective and a subjective component. Subjective component activity includes performers who have the ability to implement activities and made decisions (activity standards) on its implementation, including all the requirements for the implementation of the transformation process. Objective component is filled in by the process of converting the source material into the final product or result of activity, which is carried out with the help of conversion tools.
Latent management is carried out through the decision-making process, the process of transformation in performing activity with a change in its nature in accordance with latent goals. This transformation should be carried out in such a way that the subject of management of the social system could not identify deviations in time as difficulties in the activities of the object of its management and organize the correction of activities.
Human actions in economic life are regulated not only by rational calculation. Individual actions are performed under the influence of feelings, personal values and other formations of the psyche. An external observer sometimes perceives and evaluates individual actions of another person as illogical or irrational.
The founders of the economy noted that in economic life there are factors that encourage irrational actions. So, A. Smith tried to substantiate the law of the exchange of products of labor between various producers, producer and consumer, seller and buyer. In the theory of labor value, he proposed to consider the cost of time for the manufacture of goods as the equivalent of cost (price). However, he recognized that in any product, along with the share of objectively spent time and other material costs, there is also the subjective value of the product for the manufacturer (seller) and for the consumer (buyer). Smith, considering the activity of an entrepreneur who acts solely for his own benefit, emphasized that the entrepreneur unwittingly creates beneficial effects for other people.
It turned out that there are a number of phenomena of "irrationality" of a person in the economic sphere of life. The rigidity of the physical laws of material reality and the inflexibility of the laws of logic, which are used in the economy, in social systems, change their effect and become dependent on the laws of the functioning of the human psyche. So, it is known that concessions are made to relatives in the system of lending and sales.
The phenomenon of irrationality, using the example of human behavior as a consumer, was described by T. Skitovski, an American economist of Hungarian origin. He emphasized that "reasonable benefit", rational expenditure of the budget to the consumer is dictated by experts, authorities, all those who act as heralds of "social rationality". At the same time, people act according to the call of individual preferences. The irrationality of human nature lies in the indulgence of weaknesses, the conflict between instinct and pleasure, in the lack of skills of rational behavior, which requires time to master the algorithms of actions and strong-willed efforts.
It is human nature to experience the illusion of "results and costs" in activities due to an imbalance in subjective and objective assessments. S. V. Malakhov wrote that the costs always objectively exceed the result, but psychologically it is natural for a person to exaggerate the merits of the chosen alternative and belittle the attractiveness of the rejected one. Otherwise, the “bird in hand”, which creates the effect of satisfaction and thus positive emotions, reduces the significance of negative (hidden) outcomes for the subject and increases the significance of positive ones. The same effect creates the illusion of profitability, when mental energy costs are not taken into account, subjectively leveled.
The phenomena of human economic irrationality were empirically investigated, described, experimentally, statistically and by modeling methods proved by Nobel Laureates in Economics 2000-2002. . D. McFadden and J. Hackman, studying how social programs and consumer choices affect the economy and volume of production, came to the conclusion that social and personal factors affect the rationality of producers, which is “shifted” due to choice errors and heterogeneity of preferences consumers. It turned out that the choice of the consumer, taking into account his individual traits, character traits and tastes, is a priority for determining the volume of production and labor force in the labor market. They substantiated the need for a differentiated calculation of social needs for individual branches of production, the efficiency of which, as a result, increases by 50%.
In developing the theory of non-competitive markets, J. Akerlof, M. Spence and D. Stiglitz substantiated the proposition that information is a commodity, an object of purchase and sale in accordance with value. The rent of this commodity, according to the law of monopoly price, increases due to the phenomenon of information asymmetry in social market relations. But this direct profitable monopoly creates destructive effects, increases uncertainty, destabilizes the economy, induces people in conditions of scarcity or distortion of information to make irrational decisions.
As D. Kahneman showed, people use the comparison method in business and purchases, and not justified calculations in the algorithms of probabilistic models. In the behavior of people pursuing goals in the economic sphere, typical mistakes appear in decision-making in that they tend to repeat strategies in which they have not succeeded. It seems to them that the cause of failure was a minor mistake or an unfortunate set of circumstances.
When making decisions, intuition becomes a strong factor. Life situations often require making decisions quickly, so it is not always possible to understand the reasons why this or that decision was made. A person is also not always able to clearly understand desires, as a result of which the realized goal is often disappointing. Excessive self-confidence in professional infallibility and overestimation of one's own ability to correctly understand the situation affect the deviation from rational behavior in the financial markets. The "economic" behavior of people is largely explained by the phenomena of risk, stereotypes and premiums.
Thus, the laws that govern human behavior in the practice of economic life are largely corrected by the laws of the human psyche.
The problem that marked the beginning of economic psychology as a science was the irrationality of "economic" man.
Modern economists have continued to develop the ideas of A. Smith and other classical economists (W. S. Jevons, England, 1835-1882; L. Walras, Switzerland, 1834-1910; K. Menger, Austria, 1840-1921), in which the essential the place is given to the subjective psychological characteristics of a person who makes decisions and acts in the economic sphere.
In the history of establishing one of the basic laws of economics - the law of supply and demand - a significant contribution was made by philosophers and psychologists. The formulation of the law of supply and demand (the quantity of goods and its value (value, price) are inversely related), as well as all subsequent refinements of the law, were preceded by the postulates of philosophy and open laws in the psychology of human sensory systems. A visual illustration of the law can be found on the Internet or at.
The goods and needs of consumers have been taken as the leading factors in explaining what prices and resource values are formed from. William Jevons, Leon Walras, Carl Menger in the theory of marginal utility explained that the utility of a good (a property of things that make it possible to satisfy a need) is determined by the last available unit of a particular thing (W. Jevons). The value of a good is determined by the rarity of a thing (L. Walras). Goods have ordinal ranks. Thus, gold in the desert, compared with water for a thirsty traveler, will have a boon of a lower order. Things acquire the property of being “good” through psychological value for a person (K. Menger) or benefit.
There is no direct relationship between labor costs, social conditions and commodity prices.
The theory of marginal utility was being developed at the time when the Bouguer-Weber-Fechner law was discovered in psychology. In general, its content is as follows: the strength of the reaction to the stimulus decreases with each subsequent repetition of it for a certain time and then becomes unchanged, constant. The subjective sensation from the increase in the strength of the stimulus of the same modality grows more slowly than the intensity of the stimulus.
The minimum increase in illumination IΔ necessary to cause a barely perceptible difference in sensation is a variable value, depending on the magnitude of the initial illumination I, but their ratio IΔ/I-value is relatively constant. This was established in 1760 by the French physicist R. Bouguer through experiments.
The ratio of the incremental intensity of the stimulus to the initial strength of the stimulus IΔ/I, or the "distinctive step", as it began to be called, is a constant value, was confirmed in 1834 by the German physiologist E. Weber, and his statement became the general principle of the activity of sensory systems.
Later, in 1860, G. Fechner defined the concepts of absolute and difference sensitivity and threshold. The relative difference, or differential, threshold is the minimum increase in IΔ in relation to the initial intensity of the stimulus, which causes a barely noticeable increase or decrease in the sensation of IΔ / I in a person.
The final law was formulated by G. Fechner and called it "Weber's law". According to this law, the relation IΔ/I = const takes place. G. Fechner derived the law of sensations: S = K log IΔ/Io, where S is a subjectively experienced sensation from a stimulus of one or another intensity; I is the intensity of the stimulus. The law says that the magnitude of sensations is proportional to the logarithm of the magnitude of irritation.
The Burger-Weber-Fechner law and the psychological theory of pleasure and pain of the philosopher Jeremiah Bentham were applied to economics by William Jevons. He deduced the "equation of exchange": goods A/B = intensity A/B = utility of the last need of unit A/B. In other words, with a stable commodity stock, the value balance of two quantities of commodities will be equal to the inverse ratio of their marginal utilities. In a state of equilibrium, the increments of consumed goods are equal to the ratios of the intensity of needs satisfied last, by the last unit of the good or the last degree of utility of each good.
There are three main theses in Jevons' theory:
. the value of a commodity is determined by its usefulness;
. prices are determined not by production costs, but by demand;
. costs indirectly affect supply and indirectly commodity prices.
Jevons was very interested in the pattern of human impatience, which is that people prefer to satisfy needs in the present, rather than the future. This pattern has now been introduced into one of the laws of economic psychology.
Value to the producer is explained by the presumed usefulness of the final product or commodity (Friedrich von Wieser, 1851-1926). At the same time, the costs of the producer are directly related, but the benefits that are available in excess do not represent values. Costs express the value of commodities as implied, that is, imputed to the means of production or endowed by consumer utilities.
Thus, when deriving one of the basic laws of economics, the marginal value, usefulness of a product and the impact on the price of a product, primarily demand, economists relied on the laws that human sensory systems obey, i.e., human psychology.
The psychological factor also underlies the law of John Hicks, a professor at Oxford University. Hicks' law states that consumer behavior is focused on obtaining the highest effect, maximum utility, and the consumer chooses the goods he needs, focusing on the subjective order of preference. Goods are interchangeable. Formally, it is possible to calculate and build a graph of the dependence of the amount of consumed goods on the amount of income. Types of goods, modalities may not be taken into account.
The psychological factor - the motives of individual actions - was also considered important by the American economist John Bates Clark (1847-1938). Clark considered motives as generalized actions of a reasonably acting individual. When calculating the factors of production, primarily labor costs, Clark considered the marginal output per unit of product. Wage per hour of labor is equal to the income from the hourly marginal product, other costs remaining unchanged. By manipulating the interest on the factors invested in the product, they increase capital.
The problem of working with a person's motivation to increase the company's capital became more acute in the 20th century. Its study began with the famous Hawthorne experiments conducted by psychologists at Harvard University under the guidance of Professor Mayo in Hawthorne, Illinois at the Western Electric Company.
Capital expresses the relationship between human intelligence and material goods, Veblen Thorsten (1857-1929) believed. The ideas of spirituality and morality in the economy, formations of a clearly non-material nature, difficult to calculate in terms of money and in terms of selfish benefit, were emphasized by N. K. Mikhailovsky, P. Sorokin, A. V. Chayanov, M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky, P. V. Struve.
In macroeconomics, the psychological factor is also taken into account. Thus, the law of J. Keynes states that the share of consumption increases with the growth of income, but slowly. Consumption also depends on the habits, traditions, psychological inclinations of people. The higher the income, the more their saved, not spent part grows. Therefore, such economic measures, which are very important for the reproduction of the economy, such as savings, investments, taxes, etc., need to be studied taking into account psychological realities.
Corporate (group), not individual management of the economy reveals ambiguous, not necessarily “profitable” behavior of the participants in the labor process when sharing profits. I. Zadorozhnyuk and S. Malakhov present the results of one interesting experiment.
The company fixed the income of participants in the activity of 10% with a stable profit. When the profit increased, the level of claims for a share of their income among the participants did not change linearly. At some stage, one person considers his share to be sufficient and is not going to “strain” to increase it. Some worker wants to increase the share of his income more and more. If he used to put up with his percentage, then at some point of inflection he does not want to receive a small share. Such a worker is psychologically guided by the following logic. The firm over time has a large income that comes from my efforts. This means that the share of the profits assigned to us or me must be greater than what was originally fixed.
Formally, it looks like this. The first worker after the saturation point is inclined to estimate his profit not at 10, but at 8%, the other - at 12%. In terms of incentive impact, these estimates need to be adjusted for the true contribution of each. This is where the tree of possibilities comes into play. An employee claims 12%, but does 8%, and vice versa - claims 8%, but does 12% or more.
Thus, equity participation is capable of disintegrating the team and ruining it. Due to disagreement with the size of their “piece of income”, entrepreneurial structures fall apart, or this may serve as a reason for a person to leave the company. The methods of economic science do not solve such a problem. Perhaps mutual agreement is carried out "in spirit", with the coincidence of opinions, values with an agreement, or is solved by the problem of psychological compatibility.
The above experiment illustrates the ideas of the sociologist and economist M. Weber that entrepreneurial activity is motivated by both moral norms and social values.
Thus, human society, solving its problems of coordination in consumption, production, reproduction, exchange and distribution of vital resources, not only gave rise to the division of labor, different industries and professions, but also created systems of study and research in each of them. The deepening of knowledge about the system of "smart" servicing of one's needs and dealing with limited resources stimulated the development of both economics, and economic psychology, and the psychology of an economic person proper.
Many are convinced that a person is a rational being who acts in a way that is beneficial to him. For a long time, this was an unshakable postulate of economic theory, until it was tested in practice. And as numerous experiments have shown, people are not rational at all. But the most amazing thing is not even that, but the fact that, as Dan Ariely proves in his bestselling book, our irrational behavior is predictable. Konstantin Smygin, founder of MakeRight.ru, a service of key ideas from business literature, shared with readers of Insider.pro key ideas from Dan Ariely's book Predictable Irrationality.
What is this book about
Our psychology is fraught with many mysteries. It's amazing how irrational we sometimes behave. What is even more amazing is that our irrationality is predictable and works according to its own laws.
In his best-selling book Predictable Irrationality, Dan Ariely talks about the systemic fallacies of human behavior and how the understanding of the irrationality of human behavior has upended the once unshakable postulates of economic theory, which considered people as rational individuals. Dan Ariely explores the phenomena associated with a relatively new direction - behavioral economics.
Classical economics assumes that all people are rational subjects and act accordingly. That is, they compare all possible options with each other and choose the best of them. If an individual makes a mistake, market power quickly corrects it.
These assumptions about rational behavior have allowed economists to draw far-reaching conclusions about taxation, government regulation, health care, and pricing. But recent studies of human behavior radically refute this approach.
Consider the main ideas from the book by Dan Ariely, confirming our irrationality and its predictability.
Idea number 1. We all know in comparison
- subscription to the online version for $59,
- print subscription for $125
- print and online subscription for $125
The last two options cost the same, but the one that offers both subscription versions seems like a better deal. This is not a mistake at all - this is an example of intentional manipulation in order to make a potential subscriber skip the first option and pay attention to the more expensive one.
What is the essence of this approach? It is based on the psychological characteristics of a person - we can evaluate the advantage of any option only by comparing it with others. We cannot estimate the absolute value of this or that thing, but only the relative value.
This is the principle of our thinking - we always look at things and perceive them taking into account the context and connections with other things.
Idea number 2. What does the law of supply and demand not take into account?
World-renowned naturalist Konrad Lorenz demonstrated that newborn goslings become attached to the first moving object they see, be it a person, a dog, or a mechanical toy. This effect was called imprinting - "imprinting". We, too, tend to unconsciously cling to the meanings we already know - in other words, "set anchors." This feature, which is called the "pegging effect", also manifests itself in relation to prices.
Dan Ariely tells the story of Assael, a businessman who began introducing black pearls to the market in the mid-twentieth century. At first, no one was interested in his proposal. But a year later, Assael turned to a jewelry specialist, who displayed black pearls in his shop window, setting a huge price for it. As a result, black pearls began to be worn by movie stars and rich divas, and it became synonymous with luxury. The cost of black pearls was "pegged" to the reference point in the form of the most luxurious gems in the world, and it became very highly valued.
The author makes a reservation: the price tags themselves do not yet become anchors. The imprinting effect occurs when we think about buying a product. The price range may be different, but we always compare them with what we fixed initially.
Idea #3: How do anchors become a long-term habit?
It is no secret that people tend to herd behavior. But Dan Ariely talks about another remarkable effect - "spontaneous herd instinct." Its essence is that a person believes that a certain object is good or bad, based on how he perceived it on the basis of previous experience.
For example, you are used to drinking coffee in the same cafe every morning. But one day we decided to go to Starbucks and were unpleasantly surprised by the prices. Nevertheless, you decided to try the local espresso, although it seemed unreasonably expensive to you. The next day, you go back to Starbucks.
Thus, you have re-tethered your anchor. How did it work? Due to the emotional factor, Starbucks makes visitors feel completely different than ordinary cafes, and this is enough to abandon the old "price" anchor.
Idea No. 4. Economists' mistake
Idea number 5. Free cheese in a mousetrap
Why are people so greedy for free stuff? Dan Ariely suggests asking yourself a question - would you buy a product you don't need if the price for it dropped from 30 to 10 rubles? Maybe. Would you take it if you were offered it for free? For sure.
How to understand the irrational desire for free goods, which otherwise we would not pay attention?
This is due to another of our psychological features - a person is afraid of losses. When we pay for something, there is always an underlying fear of making the wrong decision, but when we get something for free, the fear of making the wrong decision disappears.
Many successful marketing campaigns have capitalized on our craving for free cheese. For example, we might be offered free shipping when you buy multiple items instead of just one, which works well even if you only need one item.
Idea number 6. How much does friendship cost?
If after dinner with a relative you offer him money for food and service, then most likely he will be offended. Why? There is an opinion that we live in two worlds. In one, market norms prevail, and in the other, social norms. It is important to separate these norms, because if they get mixed up somewhere, then good friendships or family relationships will be spoiled.
Experiments show that when we begin to reason in the spirit of social norms, market ones recede into the background.
Interestingly, gifts are not subject to this rule - they allow you to stay within the framework of social norms without switching to market ones. But announcing the value of the gift will put you back in line with market norms.
Why is it important to know about the existence of these two worlds? If you offer someone money for doing work, then your relationship will be perceived as a market one, and if you offer too little reward, you will not be able to motivate people. On the other hand, people who are more willing may agree to do this work for you for free or for a gift.
To illustrate this principle, the author tells about a well-known case. One kindergarten wanted to solve the problem of parents being late for their children by introducing a system of monetary fines. However, this measure not only did not have the expected effect, but also had the opposite effect. The fact is that parents began to perceive their obligations in relation to the kindergarten within the framework of market norms - paying fines relieved them of guilt for being late.
Idea number 7. Mr. Hyde in each of us
Many believe that they are fully aware of themselves and know what they are capable of and what they are not capable of. But experiments prove that people simply underestimate their reactions.
In a calm and excited state, we answer the same questions in completely different ways.
Dan Ariely draws an analogy with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who live in every person.
Mr. Hyde can completely get the better of us, and in such situations, we need to understand that we will regret our actions in this state.
Idea number 8. Why do we put off the important for later?
We are in a boom in consumption. We cannot deny ourselves a purchase and often live on credit. We can’t save, we give in to impulses, we follow short-term desires and we can’t achieve long-term goals. Many are familiar with the procrastination in the implementation of the most important things. We put them off until the last minute, and then we reproach ourselves that we realized it too late, promising ourselves that next time ... But the next time the same thing happens.
As we already know, two sides live in us: Dr. Jekyll - rational - and Mr. Hyde - impulsive. When we make promises to ourselves and set goals, we do so in a rational state. But then emotions take over. So we decide to eat another piece of cake and go on a diet tomorrow...
Also, given that we understand the imperfection of our self-control, we can act on this understanding - to study in the company of motivated friends or ask to save money for the deposit of our employer.
Idea number 9. Emotions and things
Thanks to the research of Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Laureate in Economics) and other scientists, we know that a person who owns a thing appreciates it much more than other people.
Why is this happening? Dan Ariely identifies three reasons:
- We fall in love with what we own. We “charge” each of our things with certain emotions.
- We focus on what we will lose if we discard the item, not on what we can gain (for example, money from the sale or free space that was taken up by old furniture).
- We believe that other people see the deal the same way we do.
Idea #10: We Get What We Expect
Perhaps you have seen more than once that different people evaluate the same event in different ways. Why are there so many interpretations of the same questions?
The fact is that we are biased and biased, and we are influenced by our expectations. Known fact - if you tell people that food will not taste good, they will perceive it as such. And the beautiful design of the cafe, the spectacular display of dishes or their colorful description on the menu can positively affect the perception of the taste of food.
On the other hand, we need stereotypes simply because without them it would be extremely difficult for us to understand the huge flow of information in the world. However, stereotypes have a very strong influence on us. So, for example, if women are asked to indicate their gender before a math test, they do noticeably worse on the test. It turns out that this question revives a stereotype in their mind, which makes them show worse results in reality.
Idea No. 11. Honesty as an illusion
The statistics say that misconduct by employees of US companies causes damage to their employers in the amount of $ 600 billion annually.
Recalling the infamous Enron company, the author wonders why there is so much less condemnation in society of crimes committed by white-collar workers, although they can cause much more damage in one day than a notorious crook in a lifetime? Dan Ariely explains this by saying that there are two types of dishonesty. The first option is the usual scam or theft - from the cash register, from pockets, from apartments. The second option is what people who do not consider themselves thieves do - for example, they can take bathrobes or towels from a hotel or a pen from a bank.
The author conducted an experiment with students at the Harvard MBA School, whose graduates hold the highest positions, to identify such dishonesty when rigging answers to a number of questions. The experiment revealed the dishonesty of many students, however, interestingly, when the experiment was modified, it appeared that the students did not become more dishonest, even if they had the opportunity to completely destroy all evidence. Even if there is no chance of us getting caught, we are still not completely dishonest.
Where does our desire for honesty come from? The author finds an explanation in Freud's theory - by doing good deeds, we strengthen our super-ego and stimulate the activity of brain areas that are responsible for rewards. However, usually people treat “large-scale” actions in this way - and at the same time, without a twinge of conscience, appropriate someone else's pen.
How can we solve the problem of dishonesty? Students stopped rigging their answers to a test when they were asked to remember the 10 commandments before the test. Other experiments have also confirmed that being reminded of moral principles completely abolishes deceit.
Key ideas of the book
- Recent studies of human behavior radically refute the assumptions of classical economics about the rationality of man. We are not rational individuals. We are irrational. And besides, our irrational behavior works according to certain mechanisms and is therefore predictable.
- Supply and demand are not independent forces, they are connected to our internal "anchors".
- We continue to stick to certain solutions that we considered the best before, but which may not make sense now.
- Regardless of the personal qualities of a person, everyone underestimates their behavior in a state of passion.
- We do not like to lose opportunities, even if we do not use them. It is very difficult for us to refuse alternatives, and this makes us vulnerable.
- We live in two worlds - the world of social norms and the world of market norms. And their mixing is fraught with problems.
- We are all greedy for free. It forces us to act contrary to our true needs and desires.
- The way out of the traps of our thinking is to understand our irrationality and increase awareness.
Rational knowledge proceeds in two main forms: reason and reason. Reasoning cognition operates with concepts, but does not delve into their nature and content. Reason operates within a given scheme, template. Reasoning activity does not have its own goal, but fulfills a predetermined goal. Reasonable cognition presupposes the operation of concepts and the investigation of their own nature. Unlike reason, rational activity is purposeful. Reason and reason are two necessary moments of rational knowledge. Thinking must be both rational and rational, since the transition from one system of knowledge to another is carried out through the mind, which generates new ideas that go beyond the boundaries of existing knowledge. But the activity of the mind is relative, because, breaking the old system of knowledge, the mind itself creates the foundations for the emergence of a new system and its logic, the development of which is further determined by the mind. The problem of the rational in cognition and the problem of clarifying the meaning and role of reason in relation to being, purpose, social and historical development was transformed into the definition of the meanings of rationality. Rationality here acts as a certain cultural value, realized in certain norms of human behavior. The most widespread idea of rationality, which reduces it to scientificity (the ideal of rationality is scientific activity). It is the process of scientific cognition as based on the unity of the sensual and the rational, relying on evidence and confirmation of the results of cognition, striving to establish absolute truth, that turns out to be consistent with the standards of rationality. Irrationalism in a broad sense is usually called those f. teachings that limit or deny the decisive role of the mind in cognition, highlighting other types of human abilities - instinct, intuition, direct contemplation, insight, imagination, feelings, etc.
Irrational- this is a philosophical concept that expresses what is not subject to reason, not amenable to rational comprehension, incommensurable with the capabilities of the mind. Within the framework of classical rationalism, the idea of a special ability of intellectual activity, called intellectual intuition, is emerging. Thanks to intellectual intuition, thinking, bypassing experience, directly comprehends the essence of things. The problem of correlation of knowledge and faith, rational and irrational, in a narrower sense - science and religion has a long history. In the reflections of philosophers of different directions and scientists of the late twentieth century, one can increasingly come across arguments that scientific thought needs faith, like the right hand needs the left hand, and the inability to work with both hands should not be considered a special advantage. This is justified by the fact that in principle different structures of a human being are involved in scientific and religious knowledge. In science man acts as a "pure mind"; conscience, faith, love, decency - all this is "help" in the work of the mind of a scientist. But in the religious-spiritual life, the mind is the working force of the heart. O. Comte argued that knowledge and faith do not interfere with each other, and neither of them can replace or destroy the other, since in the "depth" knowledge and faith form a unity. At present, there is growing interest in the problem of the irrational, that is, what lies beyond the reach of the mind and is inaccessible to comprehension with the help of known rational (scientific) means, and the conviction is strengthened that the presence of irrational layers in the human spirit generates the depth from which new meanings, ideas, creations appear. The mutual transition of the rational and the irrational is one of the fundamental foundations of the process of cognition. Rational (thinking) is interconnected not only with the sensual, but also with other - non-rational - forms of cognition.
Cognitive activity of a person is possible due to the fact that he has specialized mechanisms for reflecting reality, which are commonly called human cognitive abilities. They arose both as a result of biological (concrete sensory ability) and as a result of social (abstract mental ability, intuition) human evolution. Let's briefly describe them:
1. Concrete sensory knowledge. It is based on sensory-sensitive reflection, inherent in the animal world, but specifically developed in the process of human practice. The range of human sense organs is specially adapted for orientation and activity in the macrocosm, therefore the micro- and mega-worlds remain inaccessible to direct sensory cognition. Man has three forms of sensory reflection: sensations, perceptions and ideas. Feel- the form of reflection corresponding to the individual properties of objects. Sensations can be components of perception, as well as independent. Perceptions- the form of reflection corresponding to the system of properties of the object. Sensation and perception arise from direct interaction with the object.
The analysis of sensations allows us to distinguish two groups of perceived qualities of objects, which Locke called primary and secondary. Actually subject qualities are the effect of internal interactions. dispositional- the effect of external interactions of a given thing with other things (color, taste). Both those and other qualities are objective.
Sensations carry information about the properties of objects, both their own and dispositional. They inform about the substratum of objects, their qualities and, to a certain extent, their structure. The structure of an object is most fully reflected in the complex of sensations, i.e. in perception. Feelings and perceptions can be conveyed through the concept of "image". Sensation will act as a non-pictorial image, and perception as a pictorial one, i.e. capable of depicting the subject as a whole. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the "image" is characterized not by the coincidence with the object, but only by its correspondence to the object. An image is not a mirror copy, but it is not a sign either. This is what is consistent with the thing and corresponds to it. However, sensations and perceptions are always tied to a specific situation, a specific object. This limits the human experience to the personal and situational. The task of expanding the scope of sensory experience is performed by such a form of sensory reflection as representation, which makes it possible to combine images and their elements outside of direct action with the objects represented. Performance- this is a sensually visual image of objects and phenomena of reality, stored and reproduced in the mind without a direct impact of the objects themselves on the senses.
Sensory cognition and its forms are the starting point in moving towards the essence of the object, in mastering the object in practice, as well as a way to regulate the objective activity of a person.
2. Rational knowledge(abstract thinking) arises in the process of labor and communicative activity of a person, in one complex with language and thinking. There are three forms of abstract mental reflection: concept, judgment and conclusion. concept- the result of a generalization of objects of a certain class and a mental selection of this class itself according to a certain set of features common to objects of this class. Judgment- this is a form of thought in which, through the connection of concepts, something is affirmed or denied about something. (Reflection of connections between objects and phenomena of reality or between their properties and features). inference- reasoning, during which a new judgment is logically deduced.
Distinctive features of abstract thinking in comparison with sensory reflection:
1) The ability to reflect the general in objects. With sensitive reflection in individual objects, general and single signs are not differentiated; they are not separated, merged into a single homogeneous image.
2) The ability to reflect the essential in objects. As a result of sensitive reflection, the essential is not distinguished from the non-essential.
3) The ability to design on the basis of knowledge of the essence of objects of concepts-ideas to be objectified.
4) Indirect cognition of reality - both through sensitive reflection, and with the help of reasoning, inference and the use of instruments.
But at the same time, rational and sensory cognition cannot be thought of as eliminated stages of one process. In reality, they interpenetrate each other. On the one hand, the realization of the sensory-sensitive ability of a person is accomplished through abstract thinking. On the other hand, the realization of the abstract-mental ability of a person is carried out by referring to the results of the sensory reflection of objects, which are also used (in the form of image-models, image-symbols) as a means of achieving and expressing the results of rational cognition.
Rational knowledge uses two main procedures for operating with its content, expressed in the form of concepts, judgments and inferences - explanation and understanding. The explanation procedure is the transition from more general knowledge to more specific and empirical. The main types of explanation are structural, functional and causal. Understanding as a procedure deals with meanings and meanings and involves a number of sub-procedures: 1) interpretation - the initial attribution of meaning and meaning to information; 2) reinterpretation - clarification and change of meaning and meaning; 3) convergence - the unification of previously disparate meanings and meanings; 4) divergence - the separation of a previously single meaning into separate sub-meanings; 5) conversion - a qualitative modification of the meaning and meaning, their radical transformation. Understanding thus. is the implementation of many procedures and operations that provide multiple transformation of information in the transition from ignorance to knowledge.
3. Intuition. The term intuition is ambiguous and difficult to separate from the phenomena of the sphere of the unconscious and subconscious or instincts. Intuition cannot be reduced to its sensory-sensitive variety, which manifested itself, for example, in the axiomatic method of Euclidean geometry. An example of sensory-sensitive intuition is the proposition “parallel lines do not intersect”. In epistemology, it is customary to talk about intellectual intuition that allows you to penetrate into the essence of things. The very idea of intuition has a religious-mystical origin. Initially, it was understood as a form of direct knowledge of God. In the deistic and pantheistic rationalism of modern times, intuition was considered the highest form of knowledge, operating directly with the essence of things and ultimate categories. In postclassical philosophy, on the basis of a new, irrational interpretation of intuition, a special epistemological position has developed - intuitionism, most often religiously colored. Modern epistemology also cannot neglect the analysis of intellectual intuition, since the fact of the existence of this specific cognitive ability of a person is confirmed by the experience of not only artistic and philosophical, but natural scientific creativity (Einstein, Tesla, Kekule, Botkin, Dixon).
The following main features of the act of intellectual intuition can be distinguished: the immediacy of comprehension of the truth at the essential level of objects, the unexpectedness of the solution of the problem, the unconsciousness of the ways and means of solving it. The general definition of intuition sounds s.o.: intuition is the ability to comprehend the truth through its direct discretion without substantiation with the help of evidence. The intuitive ability was formed as a result of the need to make decisions with incomplete information about events, and the ability to intuitively know can be regarded as a probabilistic response to the probabilistic conditions of the environment. The probabilistic nature of intuition means for a person both the possibility of obtaining true knowledge and the danger of having erroneous, untrue knowledge.
Intuition is formed under the influence of a number of factors; thorough professional training of a person and deep knowledge of the problem; folding the search situation, the state of problem; actions of the subject of the search dominant based on continuous attempts to solve the problem; having a "hint".
Intellectual intuition is heterogeneous and can be classified s.o.:
1) Standardized or intuition-reduction. With her direct comprehension of the essence of k.-l. phenomena occur, albeit within the framework of a probabilistic mechanism, but on the basis of a certain matrix. An example is the rapid establishment of a correct diagnosis based on external symptoms without resorting to other methods.
2) Heuristic or creative. As a result of heuristic intuition, fundamentally new sensory and conceptual epistemological images are formed, i.e. fundamentally new knowledge. There are two subspecies of it: a) eidetic intuition arises as an abrupt transition from concepts to sensual images that carry new content in comparison with these concepts; b) conceptual- an abrupt transition from sensory images to concepts that do not directly generalize these images (Einstein: “combinatorial game” with figurative elements of thinking).
Based on this, we can define creative intuition. Creative intuition is a specific cognitive process that consists in the interaction of sensory images and abstract concepts and leads to the creation of fundamentally new images and concepts, the content of which is not derived by a simple synthesis of previous perceptions or by only logical operation of existing concepts.
